This document provides an introduction to Twitter and how it can be useful for academics and researchers. It explains that Twitter is a social media platform that allows users to share messages up to 140 characters. For researchers, Twitter can be used to build scholarly networks, stay up to date in their field, share resources, and engage with others who have similar interests. Several researchers explain how Twitter has benefited them professionally by helping make connections, get feedback on ideas, and find relevant resources. The document concludes by offering tips for using Twitter effectively such as asking questions, maintaining a balanced professional and personal presence, and telling others about your Twitter account.

1. TwitterBecoming a Networked Researcher 2015
Ned Potter
Academic Liaison
#yorksocmed
An Introduction to

2. Aim of today: explore what Twitter
is, how it relates to academia in
general, and how it can be USEFUL
to researchers specifically.

3. Whatis Twitter?

4. Twitter is social media
and social media is part of Web 2.0 –
the interactive and participatory side of
the internet.
It’s basically people exchanging stuff
(most often opinions) – a LOT of stuff.

5. (Click the image to see just
how much stuff, in real time)

6. Twitter is a social network which
allows users to exchange public
messages of 140 characters or less,
known as Tweets.
It’s easy to tweet, via:

7. Tweets can be entirely text-based or they can
contain multimedia such as images or video,
and links to anything online.

8. Your tweets are seen by other Twitter
users who follow you; you see the
tweets of users you follow. You can
quickly build up a network of peers
with shared interests. There are around
half a billion Twitter users worldwide
(225 million of whom are active on a
monthly basis).
It works like this:

9. THREETwitter
MYTHS

10. 1: YOU CAN’T SAY
ANYTHING IN 140
CHARACTERS.
Yes you can, because Twitter is meant to
be a conversation rather than a
broadcast. It’s easy to ask, and answer,
questions in 140 characters or less.

11. 2: IT’S JUST PEOPLE
SAYING WHAT THEY
HAD FOR LUNCH.
No it isn’t – only celebrities really do
that, because they have so many
followers that meaningful dialogue isn’t
really possible.
For the rest of us, it’s a conversation.

12. 3: THERE’S NO POINT IN MY
BEING THERE AS I DON’T
KNOW ANYONE ON IT.
Firstly you probably do know people on
it (search for your peers’ names) but
secondly Twitter is a great leveller – it
provides the chance to engage with
people you don’t know, including the
leaders in your field.
(As someone said, Facebook is where you lie to your friends,
Twitter is where you tell the truth to strangers.)

13. Whyuse Twitter?

14. Because highly tweeted articles are
11 times more likely to be cited
than less-tweeted articles
Eyesenbach, 2011, Can tweets predict citations?
Journal of Medical Internet Research 13 (4)
Hat-tip to Michelle Dalton – see
http://t.co/6MV8xQEujV for more stats.

15. To build a scholarly
network (or several),
quickly and dynamically

16. To keep up to date in real time,
with your field, with HE, with the
wider world

17. To share resources

18. Because Twitter is full* of like-
minded people

19. Infographic by
Katie Pratt
(@katie_phd)

20. Also
Twitter is FUN.

21. Time to get started.
Go to Twitter.com and follow the
instructions in PART 1 the hand-
out, Setting Up Your Account.

22. Time to get started.
Go to Twitter.com and follow the
instructions in PART 1 the hand-
out, Setting Up Your Account.
Hello, Slideshare! You can find
the handout we used in the
session on Scribd – just click
the screen to go straight
there…

23. Click the pic for some more
academic perspectives

24. www.storify.com
is perhaps the
tool for recording
useful Twitter
discourse

25. How it works:

26. Keyconcepts
defined

27. Tweet: your tweet is your message. 140
characters. Seen by a: your followers who
happen to be online at the time and b: anyone
who happens to look at your profile, and
potentially c: by the followers of anyone who
ReTweets it.
ReTweet: if you RT someone else’s tweet, it will
appear in your timeline and your followers can
see it. Being ReTweeted yourself is a really good
thing – it means your ideas are being exposed to
new networks.

28. @reply: you can converse directly with someone
by putting their username (beginning with @)
into your tweet – this will ensure the tweet
shows up in their ‘@ replies’.
Your tweets will be seen by anyone following
both you AND the person with whom you’re
conversing. (In other words, you don’t see every
tweet from every person you follow – Twitter
filters out the noise.)

29. Hashtag: a #hashtag is a way to bring together
disparate users on the same topic, without the
tweets needing to know each other alredy. Hashtags
can also be a way to archive conversations on a
theme, and discuss events or conferences.
You can click on any #hashtag (for example
#altmetrics) and find all recent tweets which have
included it.
Direct Message: a DM is a private message, within
the network, which only you and the recipient see.

30. E.g.
Academic Tweeters

31. Find Tweeters by discipline:
http://blogs.lse.ac.uk/impactofsocialsciences/2011/09/02/academic-tweeters-your-suggestions-in-full/

32. @uniofyork is the main account of the University
@UoYLibrary is the Library’s account
@UoYITServices is the IT services account
@RDT_York is the Researcher Development Team account
@TFTV_YORK is the TFTV account, one of the many Departments on
Twitter
@UoYEvents is the account for Events at York
@UoY_Yorkshare is the VLE team’s account
Departmental tweeters:
@timeshighered is the Times Higher’s very active account
@lseimpactblog is the LSE Impact Blog’s account (don’t be put
off by the name, it’s relevant to all researchers interested in Web
2.0 tools)
@gdnhighered is the Guardian’s Higher Education account
Wider HE tweeters:

33. Some
researchers
explain why
they find Twitter
useful
Pete Smith:

34. Some
researchers
explain why
they find
Twitter useful
Lauren Smith:

35. Some
researchers
explain why
they find
Twitter
useful
Jon Tennant:

36. Some
researchers
explain why
they find
Twitter useful
Kellie Jaremko
– why I love
Twitter as a
scientist:

37. Some
researchers
explain why
they find
Twitter
useful
Kellie
Jaremko –
why I love
Twitter as a
scientist:

38. Some
researchers
explain why
they find
Twitter useful
Kellie Jaremko
– why I love
Twitter as a
scientist:

39. Some
researchers
explain why
they find
Twitter
useful
Kellie
Jaremko –
advice for
Tweeting

40. More hands-on time.
Follow the instructions in PART 2
the hand-out, Exploring Twitter
further.

41. well
Tweeting

42. Above all, remember it’s
not about broadcasting,
it’s about conversation!
All the other rules can be broken.

43. Consider the 1 in 4 rule*
Tweets directly
about your work
Content

44. Consider the 1 in 4 rule*
Tweets directly
about your work
*actually it’s more of a guideline…
A ReTweet?
A link to something useful?A reply?
Content

45. Embrace the smartphone!
(Soon there will only BE smartphones
so you may as well get started now.)
Content

46. Embrace the smartphone!
(Soon there will only BE smartphones
so you may as well get started now.)
Imagine the people reading your
Tweets are not just in your building,
but on the train, in the supermarket
queue, at conferences or events.
Twitter doesn’t have to be
something people MAKE TIME for.
Content

47. Don’t just make statements,
ask questions.
Content

48. Try not to think of it as
purely personal or purely
professional – it works
better when it’s both.
(Personally I think it works well when you major
in professional and minor in personal…)
Tone

49. Spell things correctly, don’t use
text-speak, ensure proper
grammar and syntax – but the
tone is friendly and approachable.
Tone

50. Ultimately the tone on Twitter
is roughly akin to how you
would address your peers face-
to-face (as opposed to in print).
Are you friendly, irreverent, sarcastic,
enthusiastic, rude? That’s how you should
be on Twitter.
Tone

51. Logistics
How often should
you tweet?
Targets can often backfire – tweet
when you have something to say,
and don’t when you don’t.

52. That said, the more people tweet, the bigger their network.*
The bigger their network, the more they get out of Twitter.
Logistics

53. Analyse your Tweets
There are a million and one Twitter stats packages online –
choose the ones which give you information you can ACT on.
E.G. use http://tweetstats.com to check how often you’re
replying and RTing, and WHEN you’re Tweeting…
Logistics

54. Finally: you need to actually tell
people you’re there.

55. Finally: you need to actually tell
people you’re there.
@username on your
business cards
on your PowerPoint
presentations
on your name-badge at
conferences
in your email signature

56. Any questions,
comments, ideas,
plans?

57. Thanks for coming!
More on ‘Becoming a Networked
Researcher’ can be found at
http://www.york.ac.uk/library/info-
for/researchers/networked/
The RDT webpages are at
http://www.york.ac.uk/admin/hr/researcher-
development/
The slides (with a link to an online version of
this hand-out) can be found at
http://www.slideshare.net/UniofYorkLibrary/
Absolutely every picture via www.iconfinder.com